DIETITIANBECKY - Thank you again for your help and words of encouragement. I think sometimes just hearing someone reaffirm what I think I already know is helpful. Like I said, I don't give up easily. I'm sure eventually I'll figure out what will work for me.

I think that is a great plan...sticking to about 1200-1300 calories daily. And yes, I do think a more realistic weekly weight loss is going to be in the 1/4 - 3/4 pound range.

Becky

WHITNEYTEACHER
Posts:
6,266
3/30/13 6:27 P

DIETITIANBECKY -Thank you. My doctor told me I should eat no less than 1200 calories a day so that's what I've been trying to do. I think I'll try to stay closer to that number instead of letting it get so near to the top of the suggested range though. I'm going to try and get more exercise, with my physical limitations I can exercise but the things I can do take a long time to burn very many calories. If burning a pound of fat uses 3500 calories that's 500 calories a day to burn. Even though I often exercise for over an hour a day it still usually is less than 300 by the time I'm done. I think I'll have to pay more attention to the specific calorie burn each thing I do adds up to and do the ones that burn the most more often. As far as medical issues go my doctor told me in January that with my family and medical history weight loss would be "very difficult" so I guess overall I'm doing OK. It's just hard not to get discouraged. I don't give up easily though so I think I'll be here for awhile.

Edited by: WHITNEYTEACHER at: 3/30/2013 (18:29)

WHITNEYTEACHER
Posts:
6,266
3/30/13 6:22 P

Thanks for the suggestions. Today is by far not a typical eating day for me though. I think I've had maybe 3 bowls of cereal for the whole month and only had juice because my diabetic husband needed some this morning so we shared a small bottle of apple juice because he didn't want to drink the whole thing. Today is our anniversary so I intentionally am eating light so I can go out to dinner and actually eat something without feeling too guilty. We live in a very small town with only one nice restaurant, a Steak House so not a lot of choices there. Also, my complaint wasn't that I wasn't loosing 2 pounds a week. My complaint was that in 8 weeks I'd only lost 3 pounds, that's less than half a pound a week. My original goal was one pound a week, never has it been 2. I think you're right though that my body is still getting used to the increase in calories and starting to work better, thus the new feeling of hunger. Thanks again for the feedback.

the shortness works in your favor in that you should be able to lose a little more than a taller person at that weight. but the age translates to slower weight loss. another red flagged important thing is that you just increased your calories by 50-100%. when you eat too little for too long that does cause issues and it's great that you're working on that long term fix for it. but realistically the jumping up your calories fix to get you out of the situation often means a short term weight gain while your body gets its equilibrium back where it should be. it's one of the fixes that's really great for you long term, but it's something that you can basically only do one way and in the short term it means going against your long term goals. and thyroid issues tend to signify slower losses. check out some of the thyroid teams for more specific support on that, they are great. plus, you have medical issues which make exercising difficult. so looking at all of that together means that half a pound a week is a really fabulous loss for where you are right now. you've a lot of the big issues that make weight loss difficult and you're losing through all of them. which is hard to do and pretty impressive. while you might want to lose 2lbs per week with all of that going on you may need to adjust your expectations down to a half pound a week. it kind of depends on your mindset. if you're a "shoot for the moon and even if you fail, you'll land among the stars" sort of person by all means keep striving for an aggressive goal, even if you do cut your loss per week down to 1lb. if you get discouraged easily, try cutting your loss per week goal down to 1/2 or 1/3 of a pound and focus on shorter term goals [another 4lbs in 2 months, a ten week or ten pound goal] so that you can reach that and feel good about it. there is something very motivating about reaching and hitting and goal and keeping on, so setting something in the shorter term can help you be more motivated for your long term goals. in other words it can be a lot easier to hit ten pound goals six times rather than a 60lb goal once. with the little goals you get a lovely feeling of accomplishment instead of feeling like your goal is always out of reach. it's a bit of a half empty/half full sort of thing, but it can help.

if you're feeling hungry, start paying attention to what foods keep you longest and then compare to what foods aren't keeping you. for example i see cereal and juice for breakfast. cereal is notorious for not keeping people full, juice is the same and you've paired it with sugared milk [creamer] and a half serving of the only thing with nutritional value in the breakfast [the actual milk]. for today's lunch, you have almost no fat and fat is something that helps keep you full. your dinner looks to have way too much butter [try for a teaspoon instead of 1.5 Tablespoons] and try swapping plain greek yogurt for sour cream. if you want to add flavor to your baked potato, try topping it with salsa or a half cup of steamed broccoli with a half ounce of cheese or a teaspoon [two if you must] of olive oil with spices. and all of those toppings need no butter. i prefer to make dressings. one of my favorites is honey mustard. i probably use about a half teaspoon of spicy mustard [8 cals], 1/4 teaspoon honey [15 cals], half a teaspoon of olive oil [15 cals] and vinegar to make up enough volume to coat my salad. shake it up and you're looking at 40 cals. and vinegar and herbs with a little bit of olive oil are great for being lower cal and more flavorful. admittedly, you do have to like vinegar a bit. so basically take a look at what you could tweak to balance out your meals so you're not going so fruit heavy in the morning and fatless at lunch. try and tweak it so that you're getting a decent amount of everything at each eating opportunity and that should help some with the hunger.

I imagine you need something in the range of 1000-1200 for weight loss. ( But this is only a guess based on the info you share.) I really encourage you to meet with a Registered Dietitian for a complete assessment. If your calorie needs are lower for weight loss---then every calorie has to be packed with nutrition. there is little room for "extras". The dietitian can help with the menu planning you need.

Your needs are probably slightly different than our "generalized" Sparkpeople weight loss program can provide. Meet with the dietitian then use the plan you receive and track your info here on this site.

SP Registered Dietitian Nutritionist Becky

WHITNEYTEACHER
Posts:
6,266
3/30/13 2:18 P

I'm only 4'11" so I always liked the, "I'm not fat, just short for my weight" joke. I'm 60, started Sparkpeople Feb. 4 with a weight of 189, went through early menopause when my first husband died in 1999 and had my thyroid removed 11 years ago so I often feel like I'm swimming upstream. For years I ate 600 - 800 calories a day and finally in January had my OB/GYN tell me eating that little was actually working against me. That's when I came back to SparkPeople and increased to the recommended 1200 calorie's a day. I never used to get hungry, often I'd forget to eat. Now that my calorie count has gone up I find myself getting hungry more often - frustrating!

how tall are you? how old are you? how much do you weigh right now? how much are you trying to lose per week? all of those things factor in to where you are and could be. as other posters have noticed, your weight can fluctuate [by up to 5lbs per day] so 4lbs in 2 months translates to half a pound lost per week, which is perfectly fine. it's not the fastest loss ever, but the fastest losses tend to be the ones that come right back on. i mean, look at the where are they now for most of the biggest loser winners. most of them weigh more now than when they started the biggest loser. taking it off fast tends to go hand in hand with not being able to maintain the loss, while the slow and steady way tends to help maintain the loss. don't fuss at the blip upwards unless it stays for a few weeks. it's why having a few weeks worth of weigh ins to determine the general trend is more valuable information than a single weigh in. you're overall going in the right direction, if slowly.

Our body's are sometimes hard to figure out. I had maintained my weight for awhile, and so I thought when I started to exercise it would start to fall off. NOPE! I started to GAIN weight for 2 months straight!! Since I weigh myself daily, I have found that my body can fluctuate a few pounds within a day. Depends on salty foods, or other foods I may have eaten, not drinking enough water, not haveing a BM a day.......Gaining 1 lb is NORMAL!!!! I find that at TOM I end up gaining at least 2 lbs until the week is over. Just keep working at it, and watch some of the foods you maybe eating. Or check the sodium contents on the package. Sometimes I am SHOCKED at how much is in a food.

Beckie

CMCOLE
Posts:
2,667
3/30/13 12:27 P

I wish I could give you a magic formula, answer, or otherwise stellar advice.

It takes time is all I can say. You'll develop your menu and your routine, and you'll find what works.

Now, have you replaced something with artificial, or processed foods? Are you consuming more artificial sweeteners, processed (high sodium) products that you didn't previously? Are you eating lots of nuts? Peanut Butter?

It's hard to give you complete answers. Calories (and the scale) don't say it all

WHITNEYTEACHER
Posts:
6,266
3/30/13 12:07 P

I started SparkPeople February 4 this year so have diligently been doing all of this for close to 2 months now and have only lost 4 pounds, actually according to my scale this morning I've gained one of those 4 back! I just looked at my "Calories and Nutrients Over Time" report and since Feb. 4 have only gone over my allotted calories ONE day, this includes a 4 day visit with relatives when I manually recorded my food and exercise and my pre-planned anniversary dinner at the local Steak House. I've been under the calorie recommendations 7 days. Even though I had a severe arthritis flare-up that lasted for over a week and developed a foot condition that often doesn't allow me to take my usual long walks I managed to get in some form of exercise on all but the 2 travel days on the relative visit (this is from my "Fitness Minutes Over Time" report). I guess I need to exercise more but with arthritis and foot problems it takes so long to burn enough calories. How many hours a day can I realistically expect to spend doing exercise video's and WiiFit? My distance tracker shows I've walked almost 70 miles since Feb. 4. I really thought I'd lose more than 2 pounds a month doing all of this.

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